ever since graduation, the questions and musings and statements have all pointed towards the what-comes-next, of goals, of success. granted, these such thoughts and conversations have been heading this way for quite awhile. ”time for the real world,” many say. ”here comes the real thing!” many exclaim. i don’t like to take this point of view when it comes to graduation and the time after, which hopefully will become clearer as i write.
now, many people did not like the convocation speaker who spoke at case’s graduation less than a week ago. and i can see why. but i actually cringe when i hear the mockery. granted, he might not have been very prepared, but what i saw was something not many people would have the guts to attempt.
he prefaced his speech with a statement of a desire to be authentic. his preamble included the cliché, “don’t be what other people want you to be,” but overall i saw a genuineness that included a befuddlement as to why exactly he was given the honor of speaking at a convocation, despite the obvious case-is-his-alma-mater. he may have winged the majority of his speech, but my heart can’t judge him for it.
for by the world’s standards, he was terribly unprepared. he gave questionable advice (“take a walk and calm down”) and paused awkwardly and for too long. his anecdotes were incongruous, and by comparison, the 2012 senior class president gave the more preferable address.
i saw these things, but, through it, i saw a man who genuinely did not feel as though his accomplishments thus far warranted the opportunity to speak at convocation. after a dean introduced him, i could see him fumble in his head, “er, all that stuff really isn’t that great.” i don’t think the outside - his speech - accurately reflected the inside, or the stuff he really wanted to say. i think he actually had solid stuff to deliver to us, but ironically his desire to be authentic impeded our reception of the message.
but that’s just it, i wonder how many seek the genuine, the authentic, the real thing? not just in “the real world,” but the past, the here, the now, the future? not in a place, but in a time - now, then. the proportion of realness perhaps is correlated with the number of responsibilities, but shouldn’t realness… be our responsibility?
graduation certainly is something i celebrate. i am grateful for my college years, for the season of life when and where God shaped me and taught me. but i am sad to know the world has a different definition of success - of what is real - compared to the one i hold. and i’ll be honest - living in the world, while not being of it…it’s heart-breaking. it’s tough.
it’s reminiscent of when paul says to the philippians: “i desire to depart and be with christ, which is better by far…” (phil 1.23). imagine, that heaven where everyone & everything, from your classmates to your university to your co-workers to your boss, that they all exist to glorify God, who is good. prayers in class led by your professor, a company that handles money not for the good of its corporation or name-brand but for God’s goodness. this seems better, by far.
“…but it is more necessary for you that i remain in the body. convinced of this, i know that i will remain, and i will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in christ jesus will abound on account of me…” (phil 1.24-26). i’ll enter whatever season of life - place, time, people, what have you - with what i have, with what i can, by God’s grace alone. with the faith that many more will be brought into His Kingdom, and that whatever trials and tempests only bring me closer to Him. i hope to witness Heaven on earth, to taste more of His goodness, and to glorify Him with what little i have.
that real world? i say it’s Heaven, and i’ll live and fight for it to be here, on earth.
